Florence Freedom To Host “Manti Te’o's Girlfriend Bobblehead Day”

On Thursday evening, the Florence Freedom, an independent baseball team in Kentucky, announced that it would be giving away “Manti Te’o's Girlfriend Bobbleheads,” which are really just empty boxes, to the first 1,000 fans.

“This will be the best kind of bobblehead a fan could get,” Freedom General Manager Josh Anderson said. “Because now fans can make the bobblehead out to be whatever they want it to be.”

The promotion obviously is poking fun at what appears to be a gigantic hoax concerning Te’o's “girlfriend,” Lennay Kekua. Deadspin.com reported on Wednesday that no girl named Kekua ever died nor existed; this online relationship turned out to be one “sick joke,” as Te’o described it. Media surrounding the situation is speculating whether or not Te’o was actually involved in the fake story, which inspired many throughout the college football season.

Freedom general manager Josh Anderson claims he is simply finding a way to create buzz for the team in the cold month of January. When asked whether he believed the promotion to be offensive, he responded, “I don’t know who we’d be offending… It would just be isolated to the guy who made his season off this story.” In addition to the bobbleheads, the Freedom will play a “kiss cam” for fans to kiss their imaginary friend and will hold an air guitar contest for children.